Michael Gillbanks was born in Keswick in 1952 and educated at Bushey, Hertfordshire.

Before settling in Lancaster he worked and studied in both Manchester and London.
As a freelance artist his work includes buildings and book illustrations as well as
portraits.  The main involvement of his work is as a commercial illustrator designing
and producing promotional and sales material.

The mediums in which he works are mainly watercolour and gouache and he makes
quite extensive use of airbrush illustration for advertising.